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- The Federal Reserve's next policy move is much more likely to be a rate hike than a rate cut, although over the next two years a return to zero rates is a rising possibility, according to a New York Fed survey of primary dealers published on Thursday.

Sign of growing worries over a possible recession, respondents pegged the chances of a return to zero rates in the next two years at about one in four, the highest since the Fed began asking the question in September 2014.

Economists polled separately by Reuters now see two rate hikes likely this year; traders of interest-rate futures are betting against even one.

- China's yuan inched down against the dollar on Friday after the central bank fixed a slightly softer midpoint, but looked set for a solid weekly gain.

On Friday, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the midpoint rate CNY=SAEC at 6.5186 per dollar prior to market open, only 0.05 percent weaker than the previous fix of 6.5152.

The spot market CNY=CFXS opened at 6.5190 per dollar and was changing hands at 6.5203 at midday, also easing 0.05 percent from the previous close.

- Japan is expected to report next week that core consumer prices were unchanged in January from a year earlier, halting a brief rise in the previous two months, a Reuters poll showed, adding to doubts about policymakers' ability to reflate the economy.

Core consumer prices in Tokyo, available a month before the nationwide data, likely declined 0.2 percent in February from a year earlier, compared with a 0.1 percent slip in the year to January. The inflation data will be released at 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 26 (2330 GMT Feb. 25).

The Bank of Japan now expects inflation to hit its 2 percent target around the first half of fiscal 2017.

- Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Friday that finance chiefs from the Group of 20 major economies will discuss China's excess capacity, tumbling oil prices, and U.S. monetary policy when they meet in Shanghai next week.

- Oil futures fell in Asian trade on Friday as a record build in U.S. crude stocks stoked concerns about global oversupply, outweighing moves by oil producers including Saudi Arabia and Russia to cap oil output.

Oil prices rose more than 14 percent in the three days to Thursday after Saudi Arabia and Russia, supported by other producers including Venezuela and Iraq, moved to freeze oil output at January's levels. Iran endorsed the plan without commitment on Wednesday. If approved, it would be the first such deal in 15 years between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC members.

- The recent talk by oil-producing nations about a possible output freeze is a positive sign even if it may not actually lead to an agreement, according to one analyst.

On the other hand, Wittner foresees that "perhaps a few months down the road, after Iran has finished ramping up ... they might be willing to have that conversation."

Wittner forecasts that shale supply will "pick up momentum," driving the oil price to $50 by the end of the year.

Reference: CNBC, Reuters